COUCHOT HOMES INC

On 11/13/13 we had a generator installed. I was advised they would be at the house between 7:30am and 8:00. They did not show up until 8:30am. I had stayed to let them in the house because my job starts at 8am and I was late as it was. They were polite and I did not feel afraid to leave them alone in my home. We went over where the unit was going to be placed and they had some concerns, but then stated that it would work ok. Took them downstairs to find out they did not bother to find out what type of breaker box we had so they did not bring the required items to complete the install. Thankfully we did have what they needed since they said it was not something they stock. We went over what breakers to install on the generator and they stated they had it under control and I got ready to leave. At that point they gave me the bill and said that since they used our parts they were not going to charge us the extra charge for how far the breaker box was from the unit. (we were aware we may have an extra charge). Came home and everything looked great. On 11/17/13 I came home at 3:30 pm and everything that was wired to the generator was not running. The rest of the house was fine and I went down stairs to the breaker box and there were no directions as to what to do in any situation. (they did not tell me the day of install, he said it was because I was at work but I advised they had my cell phone and I just worked down the road). Called my fiancé' who has more knowledge about electricity than myself. He advised me to do a couple of things and that did not work. I tried to call all phone numbers that were left on the bill but all I got was voicemail. I left messages and then sent an email stating that even though we have power to the house the generator is running. I finally got a call from our sales man who is also the president of the company who walked me through taking the cover off the generator breaker and trying to trip the system. He told me which number was the one that would shut off power to the breaker and away I went. I did everything he stated and it didn't work. Eventually we did loose power due to the storm that night. We left the generator run and I got super tired and feel asleep around 6:30 with tornado warnings going off around us. At 8:30 I got a call from neighbor who asked why our generator is running when we have power. I went down stairs and the exhaust fumes were horrible. My throat burned and I had trouble breathing. Called fiancé again and asked how to kill power to everything. He said to do what I was told from the salesman and while I was standing in front of the breaker it caught fire. I screamed for my daughter to get out of the house and she hobbled her way out (she is on crutches). Thankfully I knew how to use the fire extinguisher and was able to put the fire out. Opened up the house to try to get the fumes out from the generator and called the salesman again who then said that I was crazy. I told him that I was not crazy that I am perfectly aware of knowing how to see a fire. I asked him what he was going to do and he said well there's nothing he can do right now it's 9pm. I flipped out. I called the fire department to come check the house to make sure the fire would not restart and they were flabbergasted as to how there was electricity to parts of the house with a fire in the breaker box. They checked and thankfully no CO2 levels detected. Salesman calls me during this and asks if I want him to come out. Told him he was the last person I wanted to see. He said they would be out first thing around 7:30-8am... guess what... not there till 8:30 and had the nerve to ask how I was doing. They stated they have never seen a fire like this happen and are unsure of what did happen. One issue is that he told me the wrong breaker box number so I was working in a hot breaker box having no knowledge of what I was doing, second he told me we were lucky I shut everything down when I did because if we had gone to bed with those fumes we probably wouldn't have gotten up, and I asked for reimbursement for the fire and loosing a day of work and he had the nerve to tell me since they moved the generator that cost a lot of money they weren't going to charge me for. They had the opportunity in the beginning to tell me where it was placed would not work. They had the opportunity at the time of install to properly label everything. And they had the opportunity to come out on a Sunday afternoon to see what was wrong instead of causing a fire in my home. And they are not aware of the fact that while they were working on the breaker box I was sitting upstairs and could everything they said. Heard them say that the problem was that it was not properly wired. That something was missing a wire and another spot didn't even have marks showing that anything was done to it. I will say they were super quick to get out and install the unit and they did do it in 4.5 hours, however if they had taken more time with the install they might have done a better job. At this point with the lack of concern over an emergency call and knowing that it's a women home alone with a child in the house... they do not care at all. I believe his concern was more about if I was going to sue him than our safety. If safety had been his concern he could have come out or sent someone.

builder requires a 10000.00 payment upon contract agreement for construction of new home. This is of course given under the assumption that a job (home building) will be started and completed. Long story shortened, there was a problem with the land on which the home was to be built, so the contract was technically and potentially legally voided. After contacting the builder and informing him that we would be changing location with intentions to build the home for which the original contract was drawn on a different lot, our comfort level with him changed as unproffessionalism became apparent. We requested that the payment be refunded and the builder informed us that he would keeping the 10 grand as "payment for his time and work on the job". The truth is that this builder did nothing but draw up a contract which would in fact be considered a free estimate. Beyond the estimate, there was not a single bit of work done by this builder. Not A SINGLE THING was done and this can be proven. This builder has essentially stolen 10000.00 from us for an estimate for home construction. At one point, he offered to return the money minus an "administrative fee". After this, he offered to return 5000.00 of the original 10000.00 payment. We did not accept as it is insulting, as well as ethically and morally disgusting, not to mention worthy of a lawsuit. It is truly beyond comprehension or understanding that a contractor could be this arrogant, forceful, and mindless of his reputation.